I was recommended this book by a few friends who'd read it when they were younger. I think I would have appreciated these books a little more if I had too, and the reason is this: TEEN ANGST.

So much angst! And self-pity! My main critisicsm of the Farseer Trilogy for me was the leading character, FitzChivalry Farseer. Told in first person from Fitz's perspective, the Farseer Trilogy covers his life from a young boy to a man. We spend all our time with him, and to be honest, he's a tough character to be around.

Robin Hobb tells the story of a boy who essentially has no choices; Fitz spends the entire trilogy being swept from event to event against his will and moaning about it all along the way. After a while, I wearied of the endless griping and just wanted to give him a slap and tell him to get on with the story.

The supporting characters are a mixed bunch too. While most characters are interesting and well developed, such as the Fool, Nighteyes and Burrich, other characters like Molly & Regal seemed a little underdeveloped in relation to how much I felt I was supposed to care about them.

That said, I didn't hate the Farseer Trilogy. Far from it. The story was well told, and always kept me guessing. Never once did it take me where I expected it to, and it was this that kept me going to the end, where all the threads came together in a satisfying conclusion.

The world that Hobb builds is an interesting one, full of subtle magic, mystery, intrigue and turmoil. I'm just not sure I'm much interested in the people who live there.